Our Responsibility Towards The Poor of the Country

 Though we have been making long and galvanic strides in different spheres ensuring the possibility of the emergence of the country as a world leader, we have not been able to get rid of the feeling of anguish that many of our people are still poor. In addition to our grandiose projects and pragmatic schemes for development, what we need to change the lot of the poor in the country is to create an ambiance of compassion that will enable us to see the truth and act accordingly. Over the years we have been able to extricate many of the hapless people of the country from the bane of poverty but the task is still mammoth in view of the nature of poverty characterizing a huge number of people still bogged down in the quagmire. In this context we need to ask ourselves what we do with regard to the poor.

Some of our leaders trained in the art of populist politics have encouraged us to make the most of the generosity of the government only at the cost of the poor. But very few of us have cared to give a thought to it- the way we are forcing the government to siphon off a huge chunk of the resources that could have been effectively used for the alleviation of poverty if not for its elimination. We tend to be so selfish because we do not feel the way we say we do. Many of us love to exact a price for being Indians without being conscious of the legacy of compassion that we have inherited from our glorious masters.

Before it is too late we need to reach out to the poor and the destitute with the greatest of our resources- our compassion. We need to make them feel they are not to get lost in the dark caverns of life as long as we around with whatever we have at our disposal.  The stark reality of our impoverished and emaciated brethren languishing in different parts of the country and across the road, the bus stop, the station and everywhere only makes us painfully aware of the poverty of our compassion and that we have not been able to do just enough for them. 

Before we have been blinded by the flashes of our conceit, our ostentatious and parochial lifestyle, our smart phones and clichés, we need to be magnanimous to evade the crime of being too preoccupied with ourselves. The realization should dawn on us that to love the country is to love the people and surely all of them. Hands are to be stretched out to embrace those whose miseries are not without our follies. We cannot ignore our responsibility towards the poor of the country with the excuse that measures are to be initiated and implemented by the government. If we give away a bit of what we have that will go a long way towards sustaining the poor. A forced show of pity will be an exercise in nothingness until we love to love all of us.